International Politics ///

Energy issues fade among US election-year topics. Pivotal as it is to the economy, energy policy will play no part in the current presidential race – short of, at any rate, some major crisis. It would take an event of such magnitude as the fall of the House of Saud, perhaps, or major blackouts in California and elsewhere, when gas-fired generating plants run out of fuel.
That aside, the electorate is far more interested in jobs and Homeland Security than it is in arcane debates about the timing and advisability of releasing oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham spoke at length on this topic, but he is so far embedded in the long tradition of know-nothing energy secretaries that no one paid any attention. Perhaps people in prison or in dentists' waiting rooms read the whole interview, as they have more time on their hands.